SATIIM Featured in New GrantCraft/IFIP Guide to Indigenous Philanthropy

SATIIM held its 7th General Gathering at the Mennonite Multipurpose Center in San Pedro Colombia on October 29th 2015. The General Gathering is where the SATIIM gives an overview of all activities conducted over two years to community representatives as well what will be done over the next two years. It is also an opportunity for the buffer communities to share what opportunities and threats exist in their communities to other members. As part of its institutional strengthening, the Gathering unanimously passed a resolution to ensure that the Board of Directors be made up of community representatives from the SATIIM communities.

Project Title: Strengthening Q’eqchi Maya Women’s Access and Control of Economic Resources through Sustainable Agriculture, Business Development and Marketing Logistics

Supported by: The European Commission

Objective: To increase gender equity and economic parity among Maya women in Belize through the creation of a women-run farmers association that combined Western sustainable practices with ancestral cultivation and introduced new marketing methods.
Summary: SATIIM coordinated a project to promote the social and economic empowerment of one of the most marginalized groups in Belize: Maya women. SATIIM worked with women in the Q’eqchi village of Midway in southern Belize. The women formed a farmers cooperative they named Bright Star. It served as the center of training on new sustainable agricultural methods and business planning. By the end of the project, Midway women were running their own vegetable and farm supply store in the village and looking to increase their inventory.
Accomplishments:
*SATIIM conducted research and published the report, The Main Barriers and Constraints of Qeqchi Women’s Participation in Economic Activity in Toledo.
* The project increased gender equity among Maya women in southern Belize by first creating the first bylaws in an indigenous association to specifically include a section on women’s rights.
*Midway women created a business plan and then started to operate their own business – the first women-run supply store in the village. As a result, they manage their own incomes. They have also started to plan for another enterprise.
*The construction of a storage facility enabled, for the first time, Midway farmers to store their corn, instead of selling the fresh harvest to brokers who re-sell back to them at ten times higher prices.
*New sustainable farming practices resulted in yields 200% higher than plots in the region.
Lasting Impact: As a result of the project, the Bright Start women’s cooperative made plans to continue using the new agricultural practices to cultivate their traditional food, given the high yields. They have also started planning an organic chicken business.. Their goal is to become one of the biggest suppliers for the surrounding villages of these locally grown birds that are always in high demand and command higher market prices.

Free Prior and Informed Consent – A must in Belize

April 4^th, 2014:  SATIIM, the foremost environmental and human right organization in Belize along with four indigenous Q’eqchi’ Maya communities have achieved another monumental legal victory yesterday.  The Belize Supreme Court Justice, The Honourable Michelle Arana declared:

1. That the decision of the Government of Belize to allow oil drilling and road construction in the National Park is irrational and Wednesbury unreasonable, that decision having been made without the free prior and informed consent of the indigenous Maya communities;
2. That the decision of the Government of Belize to allow oil drilling and road construction in the National Park is in breach of the legitimate expectation of the indigenous Maya Peoples, that the Government of Belize would comply with their obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to respect the rights of Indigenous Maya Peoples to their lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired;
3. ORDER directing the Government of Belize to obtain free, prior and informed consent from the indigenous Maya peoples with respect to any contract permit or licence that falls within the National Park.

 SATIIM and the indigenous Maya Peoples urge the Government of Belize and US Capital Energy to immediately comply with the ruling. Armed with this latest judgment, the communities are currently engaged in  meetings aimed at reaching consensus on definitive actions considering that US Capital has publicly stated they will not comply.  The communities so far have agreed  that they will no longer tolerate the Government of Belize and US Capital Energy to continue to violate their rights and undermine the rule of law.

Mayans Claim Victory In Court, US Capital Clings To Status Quo On The Ground
Major court ruling in favor of SATIIM, but oil company says it will continue drilling
Attorney Michael Peyrefitte maintains that SATIIM wants money
SATIIM’s Attorney calls on U.S. Capital to denounce disparaging remarks made by its attorney
Maya Communities Win Judgment in Court
Justice Arana reaffirms Maya land rights!
Maya Leaders Claim Victory Against Government and US Capital Energy
Show-some-respect-supreme-court-tells-gob-and-usce

Punta Gorda March 18th, 2014: On October 23rd, 2013, arguments ended in the case between SATIIM and the indigenous communities, and the Government of Belize. Justice Arana reserved judgment.

One would expect that a law-abiding and socially responsible company would suspend its activities out of respect for the Belizean justice system until a judgement was delivered. Not so with US Capital Energy. In fact, they continue to conduct themselves as though there are no claims before the Supreme Court of Belize. US Capital Energy, most likely with the blessing of the Government of Belize, has been working around the clock engaging in pre-drilling activities, which are part-and-parcel of exploratory drilling operations. These activities, from our view, continue to violate the National Parks System Act and the Rights of the Indigenous Communities.

SATIIM adjourned the injunction it filed in July 2013. This was because US Capital informed SATIIM and the Court that they would not drill until December 2013. As a consequence of letters to the parties associated with the oil contract requesting for information on the activities in the park, the Attorney General’s Ministry, in a letter dated February 10, 2014, informed the Court and SATIIM’s legal Counsels that no drilling will happen before March, 2014. The Attorney General was acting on behalf of the defendants named in SATIIM’s claim, including US Capital Energy.

US Capital Energy’s legal counsel said: ‘ Needless to say, though there is no injunction in place and your clients abandoned their injunction claims the company will not commence actual drilling unless the court allows it to’. The images we provide below are contrary to these claims and are another naked truth about the intentions of the parties associated with this oil contract. It amounts to a ‘Stop me if you can’ attitude.

In light of the increased pre-drilling activities by US Capital Energy, SATIIM and the communities have no other choice but to apply to the Supreme Court for an injunction. Court documents were filed on March 12th, 2014.

SATIIM-PressRelease (12.8 MiB)